The Heart that Guides
by xxGurenxx
Summary: Elena Tsuraki, a knight of King Mickey's Elite Royal Guard, has been chosen to accompany the Keyblade Master and company on the journey to save the worlds and find his friends.   Still developing the complete story line. This is all I'll reveal for now.


Hello! Yes, I am back, at last. This is a new story I've been working on quite recently. _This is more of a mock chapter. I uploaded it to gauge people's interests in this._ If enough people like it, then I'll go back, edit it with some details, change a few things here and there, and most likely lengthen it.

With that said, I hope you guys enjoy this!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything that you recognize from the series. The only thing I own is my OC, Elena Tsuraki. Although, if I did own Kingdom Hearts, Kairi would have ended up with the same fate as Aeris/Aerith in Final Fantasy VII. No, wait, take that back. That death would be too merciful. _

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Chapter 1 – Traverse Town

"Elena!" A figure called.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Asked a young woman walking up a long, red carpet, then kneeling before the first.

"I have a very important task for you."

"Sir!" Elena answered, indicating she was listening.

"I sense that the worlds are not at ease, at the moment. Something dark is stirring and I feel that things are going to get very bad. You do know of someone called the Keyblade Master, do you not?"

"Of course, Your Majesty."

"Good. I have been consulting this problem with a dear friend of mine and I do believe that I shall have to go on a journey soon. If we are correct, then the worlds and their keyholes are in grave danger and we shall need the help of the Keyblade Master to save them. This is where you come in. You are to find the Keyblade Master and protect him while he makes his way from world-to-world. He/she will have to face great danger on this journey and I sense there will be touch enemies after him. Understood?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. When am I to begin, Your Majesty?"

The King brought a hand to his chin and rubbed it in a thoughtful manner.

"I'll give you one week to prepare, then you will begin your journey. I will also be sending Donald, Goofy, and Pluto along with you. They have not yet been informed, but I shall take care of that later. I will also be leaving some instructions with them."

"Understood, Sir."

"Good, then you may go."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

With a bow, Elena turned on her heel and departed the large throne room. She silently made her way back to her room where she immediately began to plan out what all she might need. With a pad of paper and a pen in hand, she began making a list. Once finished, she began to dig through her closet for one of her traveling bags. She threw things left and right and finally spotted a black shoulder bag.

"Aha!" She cried in triumph.

She sat the bag on her desk and opened a cabinet that was above her desk. Inside the cabinet were four rows of glass bottles. Each row contained ten glass bottles. Ten potions, ten hi-potions, ten elixirs, and ten ethers. Picking the bottles up one-by-one, she began carefully placing them in the bottom of the bag. Once that was done, she made her way over to her closet and threw open the doors, yet again. After sorting through the clothes she had hanging up, she tore a nice fitting black jacket off a hanger and neatly packed it into the bag. Checking the items off, she walked over to a trunk that was located at the foot of her bed. She gently opened the lid – since it's fairly old - and carefully grabbed a small wooden case. and laid it on her desk. She stared at the small, silver dagger that had been concealed beneath the lid of the case. Fingering it a bit, she tested the sharpness of the blade and nodded her head in approval. She slid the dagger back in its case and packed it away into her bag. Now that she thought about it, she didn't really need to make a list, since she didn't really need much. After all, she would have Donald and Goofy with her, along with the Keyblade Master. She figured that what she couldn't handle, the other three would most certainly be able to. Then again, she didn't know how well the Keyblade Master could fight. Shrugging it off, she walked into her bathroom, getting ready to take a shower. If the Keyblade Master wasn't very good in combat now, then it won't take long for that to change. If the King is right, then they'll be getting lots of experience, and the best way to learn how to fight is through experiencing battle first-hand.

Zipping her travel bag shut, she walked over to the rack above her bed and lifted her sword off of it. Her sword was half a foot wide, and a meter long. It was a plain sword, with a silver metal guard and matching hilt. The only thing special about it was the small silver snowflake beneath the guard that had a small sapphire in the middle. She had that added to her sword when she was officially named a knight, to show that it was hers. She carried it in a simple black sheathe on her back. The sheath slung over her shoulder and rested diagonally on her back. After sheathing her sword, she grabbed her bag, turned off her light, and exited her room where she leisurely made her way to the Gummi hanger. Once she stepped foot in the hangar, she was met with five pairs of eyes.

"About time!" Cried an irate duck.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting, I just had to make sure I had everything. Are we ready for departure?"

"Yes, ma'am! Everything is ready!" Chip and Dale cried, while running over to the Gummi control panel.

"Good," she said facing Donald. "What were the King's instructions?"

"He said that we were supposed to start at a town called Traverse Town and look for a guy named Leon. He said that he would be able to help us."

With a nod, she made her way aboard the Gummi ship with Donald, Goofy, and Pluto not far behind. After putting her stuff safely in her room, she went back to the control room to await the 'OK' to launch. Once given, they blasted out of the hangar and began to mentally prepare themselves for what was to come.

"Look! There's a world coming up on the screen!"

"Hm? Can you tell if it's Traverse Town?" asked Elena, as she leaned over Donald's shoulder to peer at the screen.

"No, it's still too far away."

Elena furrowed her brows and walked away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Donald asked.

"I'm going to get my things. Notify me once you figure out what the world is called."

"Yes ma'am!"

Walking into her room, she made a straight bee-line to her potions case. She carefully packed away 2 potions, 1 elixir, 1 ether, and 1 hi-potion into her little potions pouch that hung off her belt. After securing the pouch, she tucked her dagger into her boot (Yeah, real original, but no one would ever be able to tell it's there), and finished by strapping her sword to her back.

"Now, all that's left is to sit and wait," she said, plopping down on her twin-sized bed. A small sigh escaped her lips as she began twiddling her fingers. She then checked her scarf to make sure it wouldn't fly off, and nodded her head once she was sure it was secure around her neck. Standing to her feet, she slowly made her way to the sma—

"Hey, Elena! We've confirmed the world as being Traverse Town. We should be there in five minutes tops."

"Thanks, Goofy! I'll be there in a minute," she called back over the speaker. Pivoting on her heel, she promptly exited her room and made her way back to the bridge. When she arrived, she could clearly see Traverse Town out of the front window.

"Preparing to enter atmosphere. Hold on, everybody!" Donald cried, while hastily pushing all of the necessary buttons.

Now fully equipped and dressed, Elena plopped down in a chair, strapped on her safety belts, and held onto the arm rests as the ship began to rock. After another minute of un-easy flying, the ship halted all shaking and landed perfectly on the ground.

"Okey doke! We have confirmed landing!"

Elena quickly unbuckled herself and straightened her clothing. The door opened with a hiss and all four walked out. Well, Pluto kind of trotted out. The first thing they noticed was a large wooden door looming over them. Upon looking around, Elena discovered that they were the only people, and things, around. The area was completely barren, with the exception of the large door and the kingdom-like wall connected to it.

"I assume we just walk in?"

Goofy shrugged and said, "A hyuck, it's worth a try."

"Okay! Let's go!"

Donald marched towards the door with Elena and Goofy trailing behind. Elena tensed slightly when Goofy and Donald pushed on the door, prepping herself to face whatever may be on the other side. The door finally fully opened and revealed a crowd of people in the middle of, what appeared to be, a town square. Relaxing, they walked through the doorway, not caring about the door closing behind them.

"So, where do we start?" Donald asked looking around at everyone.

"Good question."

"Let's just ask somebody," suggested Elena with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Hey, look!"

Goofy had his finger pointing towards the sky. Donald and Elena's eyes followed his finger and saw what he was pointing at. A star was blinking on and off, before finally going out completely.

"A star just went out!"

"We gotta hurry!" Donald yelled jumping up and down.

Elena nodded her head in agreement and began looking around.

"Excuse me, sir," Goofy said while approaching a man, "Do you know of someone named Leon?"

Instead of answering him, the man kept on walking. Donald 'hmphed' and decided to try his luck.

"Pardon me, miss, but do you know someone named Leon?"

Again, she just kept on walking. A grunt of annoyance escaped Elena. Goofy was about to try again when Elena interrupted him.

"Don't bother. I bet they're just going to ignore us, as well."

Goofy turned to look at her and scratched his head again. He seemed to do that quite often.

Elena shifted from one foot to the other while pondering their options. They were in an unknown environment, didn't know anyone, and didn't have a single clue as to who this Leon guy is. Yeah, that's a good way start. With a roll of her eyes, she crossed her arms under her chest and looked around at their surroundings.

"Why don't we just walk around while yelling out his name? Surely we'll find him then, right? A'hyuck!"

"That's the best you've got?"

With a sigh, Elena agreed.

"Not like we can do anything else."

That's exactly what they did. They walked through the streets yelling "Leon" at the top of their lungs. Well, Donald and Goofy did. Elena continued to study their surroundings.

They came upon another set of large, wooden doors. This time, they didn't hesitate to go through. As the doors closed behind them, they didn't take notice of that fact they were missing a person.

"LEON! Oh, LEON!"

"LEO- A'hey! Did'ja guys just see that?"

"See what, Goofy?" Donald questioned.

"I think I saw a pair of yellow eyes right over there."

Elena followed Goofy's finger to a dark corner a little ways from where they were standing. Her eyes narrowed, trying to see if she could see anything; she couldn't. Even so, she decided to investigate. Slowly approaching the area, she tried to be as cautious as she could. Closer, and closer she got, and she still couldn't see anything.

Until a large pair of yellow eyes popped up. It immediately launched itself at her, and she knew she didn't have time to draw her sword, so she did the next best thing. With a kick from her foot, the thing went flying into a wall. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to stop it. She unsheathed her sword with her right hand and slashed the creature across the stomach as it launched at her again. It fell to the ground and disappeared.

"What was that?" Donald asked, running up beside her.

Elena shook her head and continued to stare at the spot it had disappeared.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like that, honestly."

"A'hyuck, you think they'll be more?"

"Most likely, so we shouldn't lower our guard."

She re-sheathed her sword, and they went back to their previous task.

"LEON! Ohh, LEEEEON!"

"LEOOOOON! Where are you!"

Elena came to a halt in her steps and turned back to stare at Goofy's stilled form.

"What's wrong?"

"I just noticed Pluto isn't with us."

She blinked and turned her head to look around them.

"Heh, would you look at that, you're right. I wonder where he ran off to?"

"A'hyuck, ya' think he's alright?"

"I'm sure he's fine. Pluto's a smart dog, so he can take care of himself," she said, going back to walking through the alley they were in.

Goofy looked behind him once more, before following after.

"I sure hope you're right."

He looked around and finally noticed something.

"Hey, there's no one here. It sure is spooky."

Donald scoffed and said, "Heh, I'm not afraid!"

Elena rolled her eyes, but quickly stopped and spun around in a battle stance when she heard Donald scream. Standing in front of them was a young woman with long brown that was in a braid.

"Excuse me, did the King send you?"

"And just who might you be?" Elena questioned while throwing her a distrusting look.

"Oh, my name is Aerith Gainsborough, and I am a friend."

"Is that so?" Elena questioned once more.

"D'oh, lighten up, Elena. I'm sure she means us no harm," Goofy said nonchalantly.

Elena 'tch'ed and said, "You trust too easily, Goofy."

"No, I swear, I mean no harm. I am a friend of the King's…"

She paused to look around then added in a whisper, "Please, come with me. I fear that the open is no place for this conversation."

She motioned with her hand for them to follow, and Goofy and Donald were quick to oblige. Elena, however, narrowed her eyes and took in a deep breath and blew it out in frustration. Slowly, she made to follow them.

The young woman, Aerith, brought them to what appeared to be a hotel room. She sat on a bed and folded her hands in her lap.

"Alright," Elena started, crossing her arms under her chest, "What's this about?"

"Well," she began, "OK, you know there are many other worlds out there besides your castle and this town, right?"

Donald slowly nodded his head.

"Yeah…"

"But they're supposed to be a secret," Goofy finished for him.

"They've been secret, because they've never been connected. Until now. When the heartless came, everything changed."

"Heartless?" Goofy questioned.

Aerith then went on to explain what heartless were. After her explanation, a look of enlightenment flashed upon Elena's face.

'So that's what that strange creature was!'

She ran a hand through her hair.

"I suppose that means we'll be seeing a lot more of those things, right?"

"Correct," answered Aerith. "Have you guys ever heard of someone named Ansem?"

"Ansem?" Donald asked with his head tilted to the side in confusion.

"Yes. He was studying the heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report."

"Can we see it?" Donald asked in a hopeful voice.

Aerith shook her head 'no'.

"I'm afraid the pages have been scattered."

"Scattered? Where?"

Aerith turned her head to look at Elena.

"To many worlds."

Donald jumped in the air and smacked his fist against his palm.

"Maybe the King went to find them!"

The brunette turned her head to look at Donald once more and a small smile appeared on her face.

"Yes, those were my thoughts exactly."

"Wait!" Donald shouted while jumping on Goofy's back. "First we need the key!"

Aerith's eyes widened and she said, "That's right. The Keyblade."

Since they all knew what the Keyblade was, there was no need to explain it.

"Alright, now I have a question for you," Elena stated in a commanding tone.

She stood from the wall she had been leaning on, and uncrossed her arms.

"We're looking for a guy named Leon. Do you know him?"

A knowing look appeared on Aerith's face and she nodded her head with a smile.

"Of course! He's a friend of mine. Come, I'll take you to him."

Standing from the bed, she walked out of the room and down the hall with the three other trailing after her.

"A'hyuck! Good job, Elena! Now we'll be able to really get somewhere," Donald commented.

A small smile appeared on her face, but quickly vanished when a door flew open and smacked Donald right into a wall. A dark-haired girl flew out and ran down the hall.

"YUFFIE!" Aerith called.

The door slowly began to swing shut, but stopped half-way, allowing a squashed duck to fall to the floor. Elena bent down and lightly poked Donald in the cheek.

"You alright, Duck?"

He suddenly seemed to snap out of it and jumped up. Before anyone could do anything, he ran into the room the girl had came out of and went straight to the balcony. Goofy and Elena followed after and were met by two heartless on the balcony. Elena withdrew her sword meanwhile Donald and Goofy summoned their weapons.

"Let's beat these heartless!" Donald cried and immediately charged.

Goofy did the same, but the heartless launched an attack that knocked them off the balcony. However, Donald did manage to take one of the heartless out. Elena quickly took care of the other with a simple slash to its head.

"THE KEY!"

The statement caused her to look over the side of the balcony where she saw Donald and Goofy piled on top of a young brunette boy, whom was holding a large key.

Her eyes widened a fraction.

'The Keyblade!'

Wasting no time, she threw herself over the edge of the balcony and landed in a crouch.

It seemed that as soon as she was upright, a large heartless appeared. Her jaw dropped a bit at the sheer size of the creature. Donald yelled and Goofy said, "Oh no!" The shock passed quickly and each gained a determined look on their face. They lined up side-by-side and prepared to battle.

The young brunette boy started first. He charged at the heartless and began slashing at one of his legs. Donald followed by launching fire attacks at his hand, and Goofy was helping the boy by attacking the same leg. Elena decided to take on the other leg. She sent a horizontal slash at the leg and followed up with a side slash. This continued for a while, and right when they all thought they were getting somewhere, the heartless' legs began to twitch. Elena tried to jump back, but unfortunately, her leg got nicked and threw her off balance. Landing on her back, she grunted in pain.

'Should've known,' she thought as she got back to her feet. Looking to her left, she saw that the other three were already back up and attacking once more. She furrowed her brows in thought and began to think up a plan. 'Maybe if we all attack the same part at once, it'll be faster to get rid of each limb and eventually make it to where he has none.'

Deciding that was best, she called to the others and told them her plan. They each agreed and began attacking the leg that Goofy and the boy had originally been attacking. Within a minute, the leg disappeared. Though, with the disappearance of the leg, came the attack from the heartless. His remaining leg began to twitch, and since they were expecting it this time, they knew to jump out of the way. They managed to avoid it and immediately moved to the other leg. It wasn't long before that too disappeared. Now, all that was left was the two arms, torso, and head. With a running start, Elena jumped up to the torso, pushed off of it and sent a powerful slash at the heartless' right hand. She fell to the ground and landed on her feet. Knowing there was no time to rest, she immediately jumped in the air and slashed at the hand again. The boy caught on and started to do the same. Donald, however, was launching lightning attacks at it, and Goofy was using his shield as a sword. Elena noticed the left arm twitch, and shifted her body in the air, so she could push off of its hand and get away. She landed a good distance from the heartless and turned to see that two of her comrades weren't so lucky. The brunette boy and Donald weren't able to dodge and were smacked a few times by the heartless' hands and sent flying to the ground. Goofy was lucky enough to have gotten away. Right when she was about to run over to see if the kid was alright – since she knew Donald could definitely handle himself -, he surprised her by jumping right back up and continuing his assault on the right arm.

"Huh, guess he doesn't need any help, after all," she said aloud to herself.

With a shrug, she launched back into the battle. The right arm disappeared, and they changed their target to the left arm. Keeping in mind that it might not be long until the heartless starts it's attack again, they tried to speed up their swings. Once she was back on the ground, Elena decided she had enough playing around. Dragging the tip of her sword on the ground, she formed a circle around herself which unleashed one of her special attacks. A wall of fire built up around her and immediately ignited her blade. The wall disappeared and she was left standing with a flaming sword. It was a handy little trick that she was required to learn in her training to be a knight. Each person needed to create at least two or three special attacks to use as their aces in a battle. She leaped into the air and brought her sword down onto the heartless' arm. She dragged the blade across the surface and leapt back to the ground, and turned just in time to see the last remaining arm disappear. A smile of satisfaction appeared on her face, but quickly left when she saw the heartless turned it's torso into a cannon. A low growl emitted from her throat.

"You're getting real annoying!" She yelled as she ran to avoid the attack.

Right when she thought she was in the clear, a searing pain shot through her back. With a grunt, she picked herself up from the ground and turned to see that the heartless was right behind her, getting ready to attack again. Not wasting anytime, she scrambled to her feet and leaped up onto a crate and from there, onto a balcony. Noting that she was high enough, she jumped straight for it's head and pierced through its helmet with her sword. Ripping it back out, she jumped back to the ground and landed beside Donald whom healed the pain in her back.

"Thanks, Donald," she called to the duck as she launched into another attack.

Placing her left palm at the base of her blade, she ran it up the length of it and watched as it turned blue and lightning crackled around it. This was her second and last special attack she had. With a slash to the heartless' torso, it became engulfed in lightning. Even though it was a fairly strong attack, that wasn't what destroyed it. An attack from the Keyblade Master was what ended it. The torso and head fell to the ground with a loud clang and a heart sprang forth from it and floated into the sky. Shortly after, the heartless disappeared.

"Well," Elena began, shouldering her sword, "that was fun, eh?"

Donald threw her a dead-pan look to which she just shrugged. Turning to the boy, she called to him.

"You, boy!"

When he was looking at her, she continued.

"We've been looking for you, Keyblade Master."

"You've been looking for me?" He asked in confusion.

"That's right!" Donald answered cheerfully.

"They too have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade."

Elena turned to face two unknown figures. One was a man with long brown hair, electric blue eyes, and a scar across his face. The other was a short woman with short black hair, and chocolate brown eyes.

"And you are…?" Elena asked in an emotionless tone.

"Leon," the guy answered in a matching tone.

"And I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" The woman answered quite enthusiastically.

"Mm-hmm…"

Sheathing her sword, she turned back to face the Keyblade Master.

"Why don't you come with us?" Donald suggested. "We can travel to other worlds on our vessel!"

The boy's gaze fell to the floor and his voice gained a sad tone.

"I wonder if I'll be able to find Riku and Kairi…"

"Of course!" said Donald.

Goofy leaned down to whisper something in Donald's ear.

"Are you sure?"

"Who knows? But we need him to come with us to find the King."

Since Elena was standing so close, she was able to hear what Donald said and a frown appeared on her face. It seems Leon heard what he said as well, because the corner of his mouth twitched into a frown before going to back to the emotionless line.

He took a few steps toward Sora and said, "Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."

"Yeah… I guess," he said in that same sad tone.

Donald and Goofy exchanged looks, before Donald spoke up.

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning, no sad faces."

"Yeah, you gotta look funny like us!"

Elena scoffed and muttered something under her breath.

"Speak for yourself."

It appears Yuffie heard her and chuckled.

"Our ship runs on happy faces," Donald continued.

And as if to prove their point, a large grin appeared on Donald and Goofy's faces. When Elena didn't join them, Donald elbowed her in the thigh (since he's so short), and a small, sweet smile appeared on her face.

The boy seemed to think about it for a second before saying, "You mean like this?"

He was sporting the largest, goofiest grin they had ever seen. For a moment, no one said anything, they just stared. Then Donald and Goofy busted into laughter, and Elena couldn't help but to laugh a little, herself.

"OK, why not? I'll go with you," Sora agreed.

Donald stepped up and put his hand out.

"Donald Duck."

"Goofy," he said while putting his hand on top of Donald's.

"Elena Tsuraki," she said, putting her hand on top of Donald and Goofy's.

"I'm Sora," he said, adding his hand to the pile.

Donald and Goofy grinned before shouting, "All for one, and one for all!"

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I hope everyone enjoyed this mock chapter. Send me a review, add it to your alerts, or do something to let me know you like it, or again, leave a review and tell me you hate it. Again, _this is a mock chapter. _


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